Mixing technology, nature to lure hikers

Published 9:39 pm, Thursday, July 5, 2012

Photo by Gillian Scott
Troy Weldy, director of ecological management for the New York Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, uses his smartphone to scan a new audio guide QR code at the Lisha Kill Natural Area in Niskayuna.
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Photo by Gillian Scott
Troy Weldy, director of ecological...

Photo by Gillian Scott
Signs with QR codes are part of the Nature Conservancy's new audio tour at the Lisha Kill Natural Area in Niskayuna.
()

Photo by Gillian Scott
Signs with QR codes are part of the Nature...

Photo by Gillian Scott
Troy Weldy, director of ecological management for the New York Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, uses his smartphone to scan a new audio guide QR code at the Lisha Kill Natural Area in Niskayuna.
()

My initial urge when I see someone using a cellphone in the woods is to snatch it from their hands and toss it in the nearest body of water.

So it was with some skepticism that I learned the Nature Conservancy would be adding a walking audio guide to the Lisha Kill Natural Area in Niskayuna. The guide lets people with smart phones listen to recorded informational segments about the preserve as they walk the trails.

Here's how it works: Nine small signs throughout the nature area contain a graphic called a QR code. People with smart phones and a QR code app can scan the codes to see the Nature Conservancy web site and the audio files – one for each sign. The audio files contain information on the history of the preserve, trail features and information about plants and animals. A Spanish-language version is also available.

I've been hiking the Lisha Kill preserve since my childhood. Located off Rosendale Road in Niskayuna, it's always been a woodsy oasis despite being so close to the city. The preserve, established in 1964, features old growth forest with trees that are 200 to 300 years old. Make the steep hike down into the ravine and you'll find a pretty stream burbling through, the perfect place to stop and splash around on a hot day.

Troy Weldy, director of ecological management for the New York Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, says the audio guide is part of the organizations's plan to bring the younger generation into the outdoors.

"I know there are some people who don't want to blend nature and technology and I certainly can understand that, but we looked at our studies and saw that the hiking crowd seems to be getting older and older. Anything we can do to get younger people interested, and hope that develops into some kind of environmental connection, we hope to encourage that," Weldy says.

The conservancy hopes to add guides for a total of 10 "flagship" preserves, selected for their popularity and ambiance. The Christman Sanctuary in Duanesburg is under consideration. So far the only other preserve with an audio guides is the Butler Preserve in Westchester County.

For those who don't have smart phones, or who don't want to use one while on the trail, the audio guides can be accessed at home on the conservancy's website (http://bit.ly/rGfRkZ). The conservancy is also developing a pamphlet with the text of the guide on one side and a preserve map on the back, which should be available later this summer.

Weldy said the guides demonstrate the Nature Conservancy's shift in philosophy. Instead of emphasizing what people can't do, the organization is encouraging them to explore.

So besides just telling them what they're looking at, the audio guide encourages people to go into the stream and flip over rocks to see what they can find underneath, or break off a piece of skunk cabbage to see what it smells like. "We just don't have the staff to have somebody here all the time to give people a tour," Weldy says. "But with this technology, we're able to give that general feel of having a guide here."

I got a personal tour of the preserve from Weldy soon after the audio guide launched in June. I don't have a smart phone, so he played a few portions of the audio guide for me on his. Some of the information I already knew, but I learned a few things, too.

The narrator's soothing voice and the low volume of the phone was far from disruptive — far less disruptive than the barking dogs and noisy kids we sometimes encounter at the preserve on summer weekends.

So if you're exploring the preserve and see someone pull out their smartphone, resist the urge to snatch it from them. Instead, maybe you can sidle up and eavesdrop on their audio tour.